


Once in a Winter Night

by MohnblumenKind



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Childhood Friends, Cute Kids, Fluff, Historical Hetalia, If You Squint - Freeform, Kids Romance, M/M, Middle Ages, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 11:44:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16953384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MohnblumenKind/pseuds/MohnblumenKind
Summary: It is the 13thcentury and the Teutonic Order and Poland escaped the castle and have to prepare for winter. The albino tries to be the awesome knight he always claims to be.





	Once in a Winter Night

**Author's Note:**

> This fandom needs more Pru/Pol and AO3 is especially weak on this part! After all, they had around 800 years of interaction, sometimes as allies and sometimes as enemies.  
>   
> Thanks to my beta [Slovenskych](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4204901/). You improved this story a lot!

The albino boy looked at the sky intently. The former steel blue had faded to gray by now. Huge, heavy clouds covered it. They had started to form eastwards in the morning but meanwhile disguised nearly every part of the sky. A sharp and cold wind from the east tugged at his white coat and bit his skin. He wished his gloves were better, like the kind he had seen Poland wearing, made with leather and padded with soft wool.  
Another breeze picked up sharply and he squinted to protect his eyes from the cold.  


“Move already! Get your stacks of wood here,“ a voice called out.  
That ripped him from his observations. He focused his concentration on the other boy a few steps away who was stacking some wood beneath the roof of an old shack.  
“Don’t boss me around, Poland!“ the white-haired boy complained.  
Nonetheless, he immediately complied, dragging his wood over to the other boy.  
“You, like, did agree to help me, so I am totally in charge,“ Poland answered flippantly.  
“And you are definitely the poor damsel in distress, ready to be saved by the awesome me,“ the Teutonic Order replied, trying to start a friendly banter with the blond boy.  
“For my strong and brave knight you’re, like, not doing enough work here,“ Poland stated instantly, the words full of sarcasm. If the other wanted to bicker, he could do his part.  
Red eyes gleamed and white teeth flashed him a smile.  
“You’ll see!“ the albino exclaimed, focusing his energy to stack the wood. He was obviously trying to prove the other boy wrong. Poland only shook his head.

Neither of them spoke for some minutes. The evening was turning darker, twilight was seeping through the forest. There were movements in the brushwood, small animals, birds or rodents maybe. The Teutonic Order was not common with the creatures in these lands yet, he could barely discern half of them. It bugged him more than he would admit that he could not name the small singing bird that had placed itself in a branch next to the shack. Blackbird and sparrow were easy to remember and common all through Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, but this little fellow was unknown to him. Before he could actually ask Poland, the bird dipped its tail and left.  
He watched the trees for a while, then he continued with his task. After all, he would not be reprimanded by Poland again. While piling the wood he thought about yesterday. He had learned about the woodpecker that was common here – it was a different kind of bird with a slightly different color, yet it was oddly similar to the woodpecker he knew. He had been delighted to know that he could find such a pretty creature here, too. He wondered what these birds would do when winter and snow would come.

“It’s been getting cold lately,“ the Teutonic Order said after a while.  
“Yeah. This year will be cold. I think General Winter himself will haunt us,“ Poland replied, worry clearly audible in his voice.  
The Teutonic Order looked up, his eyes attentive on the other boy, trying to read his mood.  
“This general, does he come around often?“ the albino inquired, his tone clearly showing his dislike of that idea.  
Poland was reminded the other boy was new to his lands – he had come here mere years ago and had started to fight the heathens up at the Baltic Sea. Poland could very well imagine the albino, who was born somewhere between the soft shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the fields and deserts of the Holy Land, had never seen the malicious winter spirit before. For a second, he envied the other, but then remembered the Order had come to him while looking for a place to stay. A home. Not having a home sounded far worse to Poland than having one that occasionally was haunted by an evil spirit.  
“No, actually not. Just, like, every few years in particularly harsh winters. I think we’ll have one of these, now,“ the blond explained, clenching his hands together.  
“He frightens you?“ the albino asked, his eyes scanning every movement of the Pole.  
The blond was taken aback for a second but then he had to agree. He did fear the cold spirit, like every nation, because he brought despair and frost to his people and into their very cities and homes. And everyone of their kind depended on the happiness and well-being of their people. That simply was who they were.  
The answer must have shown on his face because the Teutonic Order dressed in his white uniform straightened himself.  
“The awesome me will protect you from him!“ the boy claimed proudly. He had definitely not grasped the concept of a body-less spirit and Poland was inclined to enlighten him.  
“I totally doubt General Winter would be impressed with your sword-wielding skills and battle tactics,“ Poland noted, torn between amusement and cruelty.  
The albino looked crestfallen and somehow slightly scandalized.  
“You don’t think I’ll manage to defeat a general? After I already defeated many of the pagans and saved your poor ass? The awesome me even squashed those uprisings!“ The albino straightened himself even more, seemingly trying to impress the other with his posture and height, which was amusing due to the fact that both were still boys and both had more or less no height difference.  
“Neither your sword nor your prayers will really harm a malicious spirit,“ the blond clarified.  
Red eyes widened with surprise and then the German crossed himself quickly.  
“In the name of Mary, you have a pagan spirit haunting the lands?“ the Teutonic Order asked bewildered, crossing himself again, trying to prevent to be jinxed.  
The Pole hesitated. He had never thought about it this way.  
“I don’t think he is exactly a pagan spirit. He’s just winter. I, like, don’t know,“ he admitted. “Maybe Russia knows,“ he continued hesitantly. “But I totally know for sure you won’t be able to fight him.“  
The crimson eyes fixed on the blond and they fell silent for a moment.  
“The awesome me will still protect you,“ the albino finally said with determination, a wide smirk forming on his face.  
“Sure, like, whatever,“ the Pole answered and shrugged his shoulders and made his way into the shack, closely followed by the albino.

The darkness settled in quickly and the cold breeze developed into a snowstorm, chasing heavy flocks through the air. The air formed small frosty clouds in front of their mouths, strangely beautiful, yet an omen for the deadly destruction to come.  
To fight the darkness and icy air the Teutonic Order had closed the holes in the walls that served as windows and had started a fire in the fireplace of the shack.

“You know, we should have stayed with my king,” Poland announced after a while.  
“But that was _so_ boring. He is not awesome at all,” the Teutonic Order disagreed.  
“Hey!” the kingdom hissed. “He is my _king_! Don’t you dare to disrespect him!” Poland would not let the disrespectful German talk like that.  
“But staying with all that nobles was really un-awesome,” the albino insisted. “And you did agree back then, otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”  
Poland sighed excessively. That was a fair point.  
Both of them had decided it would be much more entertaining to leave the feast and nobles for some time to run off into the woods, exploring the land. They hadn’t planned to get lost in the process, so that was the downside of their exciting trip.  
“But now we are trapped here in the upcoming night with the General drawing close with his cold breath,” Poland lamented.  
While the boys in the shack fell silent, the wind started to rattle at the closed windows. It seemed like the General pressed his fingers against the wood, trying to pry the blinds open again so he could peek through. The Teutonic Order wished Poland would not have told him about the strange spirit because is imagination was giving him a hard time.

“Make some food,” the blond demanded suddenly, jumping to another topic altogether.  
“I am not your servant!” the Teutonic Order disagreed, offended. And he didn’t even know if there would be any food in the shack or how to find it.  
“But you’re, like, a squire, aren’t you?” Poland jeered, raising his eyebrows at the other boy.  
“Yes, but not _your_ squire!” the albino shot back, rolling his eyes.  
In that second, his stomach decided to growl loudly. Poland gave him a triumphant look. The Teutonic Order ignored him to save the last scraps of his dignity.  
He got up and rummaged around for something to eat in their temporary shelter. The shack was not exactly large. Most real houses were composed of one or two rooms, so it was no surprise that their temporary shelter consisted of a single room with a desk and benches, a fireplace and a makeshift sleeping berth. The rest of the room was filled with equipment to use in the woods.  
The albino doubted that there would be anything eatable next to the sheets and straw, so he inspected the area with the desk first. That’s where he would place his food. He indeed found rusty knifes, some cloth, a small scythe blade, a crooked fork and some cups with and without cracks. At least, they would not be thirsty – if one of them dared to go out and yank some snow from the General’s hands.  
The rest of the search was fruitless, too, since the old and dusty equipment did not qualify to be seriously inspected. Nonetheless, the albino started to move some of the larger tools around, dragging them across the floor to see whether there would be anything useful behind them.  
He cursed in a low voice – his white uniform was getting strains – and made sure that Poland was able to hear it. He was quite noisy on purpose, conveying clearly what he thought about Poland bossing him around and moreover, winning an argument.  
In the end he gave up. It would have been a miracle to find something in an abandoned shack anyway.

They sat next to each other for a while, uncertain as what to do now. Then Poland got up, indicating the other to follow him.  
“Let’s dance,” the blond required.  
“There is no way I am going to dance. At all. And definitely not with you!” the albino disagreed. Actually, he had the habit to dispute over everything the Pole brought up.  
“Fine, then we’ll just sit around and be bored to death. At least that way we won’t have to die from starvation or the cold!” Poland exclaimed, his hands on his hips.  
“Whatever,” the Teutonic Order rolled his eyes at the melodramatic boy and got up. If he had wanted to dance, he could have stayed with the Polish king and nobles back at the castle. But Poland ignored his objections.  
“As a future knight you totally have to learn how to dance anyway!”  
The Teutonic Order decided to ignore that statement, but he waited patiently for Poland to start his lessons.  
“You have to put your foot there. Like this,” the boy instructed him.  
He demonstrated how to move some steps forward and back again in a distinctive sequence. The albino tried to imitate him.  
“No. Like _this_!”  
“That way?” the Teutonic Order tried his best. Dancing was definitely not his favorite past time. But Poland was right – again – as a knight it was expected of him to be able to dance.  
“There’s no music!” he complained loudly.  
“Just, like, use your imagination. It is not that hard. Come on!” Poland was not to be distracted by the other boy’s temper.  
There was silence for some time while each concentrated on their steps.  
“Like this?” the albino asked after following Poland’s example a couple of times.  
“Yeah, somehow,” Poland laughed at the look on the albino’s face. It was a strange mixture of expectation and distress.

After a couple of hours the cold started to seep through the cracks of the windows and gathered in the dark corners of the room, even though the fire still burned proudly.  
Poland had started to shiver increasingly. The albino noticed and frantically looked around the shack. The fire was burning and both boys already wore warm scarves and capes.  
Finally, his gaze fell on the bed. He moved some cushions and straw towards the fireplace and guided the blond there. Then, he lifted the bed sheets.  
“Here you go,“ the Teutonic Order offered while tucking Poland into the sheets.  
“Thanks,“ Poland answered, smiling softly at the other boy who sat down next to him on the straw. The dim lighting and chill made the albino's skin appear even paler than usual. The frost even painted his lips almost white but the light of the dancing fire reflected in his red eyes and gave them a mischievous glint.  
“See, I protect you from General Winter,“ the Teutonic Order announced, clearly proud. Poland only smiled.  
The wide smirk of the albino faded as his teeth started to chatter audibly.  
Green eyes widened and then the blond lifted the sheet and patted the spot right next to him.  
The albino promptly complied and slipped underneath the warm sheets. While settling, his cold hands pressed into Poland’s side. The blond boy jumped with a yelp.  
“For God’s sake, your hands are totally icy!“  
“Shh, don’t take the Lord’s name in vain!“ the other boy scolded him, but he tucked his hands dutifully between his own tights to warm them.  
The Pole muttered something unintelligible and then sent a short prayer up to heaven to ask for forgiveness (and warmer weather and a less annoying companion, while he was at it).  
Tugged into the sheets in front of the fire the two boys waited for sleep to come and the General to leave while his icy breath ghosted over the land.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Historic background:**  
>  The Prussian Crusade started at the beginning of the 13th century, after Poland had asked the Teutonic Order for help against the heathens at the Baltic Sea. Therefore, they are running around together here.
> 
> The albino as a personification is probably born in late 1190 in Acre, somewhere at the Mediterranean Sea between Damascus and Jerusalem because the Order was established there in 1198/1199.
> 
> The Teutonic Order talks about the Prussian Uprisings. They were in 1242 and 1260, so this story plays somewhere in the middle of the 13th century, when both boys were still getting to know each others.
> 
> Poland’s marriage to Lithuania was in 1386, that’s the end of the 14th century, just in case you wondered where Lithuania is. They don’t know each other yet for more than another century.
> 
> The first real conflict between the albino and Poland would be in 1308 because of Danzig/Gdańsk. But that’s in the future. For now, they are these awkward kids. (Just in case you wondered why they are so peaceful).
> 
> Anyway, medieval dances are group dances and I think one needs to learn a lot of moves to participate properly. If you are not familiar with this, watch some videos, it is quite fun. We should introduce this in discos, IMO.
> 
> And windows were actually holes. I wanted General Winter to paint his famous flowers, but I had to realize that this is the Middle Ages. Window glass was reinvented in the 14th century (one century later than this story) and it was expensive and it looked like small bull’s eyes (called Crown glass) that were placed next to each other. Bless modern times.
> 
> This is not part of the series [the White Eagle and the White Knight](https://archiveofourown.org/series/978213) , but it is kind of a spin-off to [The Blue Sky](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14506371) because there Poland thinks about them growing up together and being afraid of the General. So it probably plays in the same universe.


End file.
